Monica Binotto was nervous before her first race of the OUA track and field season.

Even though its her fourth season as a Badger, Binotto always gets nervous before her races, and the York X-Mas Open in Toronto was no exception.

"This one made me especially nervous because I wanted to open my final season with a good time," said Binotto, a Teacher Education student from Ancaster.

Binotto's game plan to attack the women's 300-metre open was to go through the first 200 meters hard, and then try to maintain her speed for the final 100.

"When the gun went off, I got out of the blocks quickly and had a good 200-metre split," she said. "In the last 100 metres I was trying to hold my technique and fight through the soreness right to the finish."

Binotto, with nothing left in the tank, fell to her knees after she crossed the finish line. She looked up at the clock to see a new personal best: 43 seconds and two milliseconds.

"It was a rewarding feeling to see my hard work had paid off," she said.

Her result is also an example of the growth, and enthusiasm, the Brock track and field team has experienced in their short history.

"The team has grown in numbers and developed a lot since my rookie year on the team," said Binotto. "We are producing much faster times as a whole and we even have a few athletes who have the top 20 fastest times in the country, which is exciting for our program. Each year always has a different dynamic, but track is like an extended family. That part of it never changes."

In the men's events, Tyrell Smikle, a second-year sprinter, ran a blistering time of 7.01 seconds in the 60m to qualify for the OUA Championships, which takes place at the Toronto Track & Field Centre hosted by York University from Feb. 21-22.

Smikle was followed by Eloho Orogun, who ran a time 7.17 seconds. Both Smikle and Orogun qualified for the final and finished fourth and eighth respectfully.

First-year Joshua Owusu was the third on the men's team to hit standard in the 60m for a time of 7.39 seconds. Emmanuel Harawa qualified for OUAs in the 300m with a time of 36.03 seconds. Harawa was followed by Tye Douma who ran 36.74 seconds in the 300m, punching his ticket to OUAs.

In the other women's events, Olivia Orazietti kicked off her season with a personal best in 60m dash with a time of 7.99 seconds. In the final, Orazietti ran 8.03 seconds for 11th place.

Anna Wojtis additionally qualified for OUAs in the 60m with a time of 8.20 seconds.

Full Results

Up next, the Badgers will compete at the Sharon Anderson Memorial meet at the University of Toronto on Jan. 4.